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The Summer will arrive someday

On Saturday morning I was driving along the Parkway after going through the perhaps 50th carwash of our ‘lovely’ Winter. I have decided that my next car’s color will be dirt brown with dried salt accents. Coming down the hill near The Utica Zoo I was met with a long cascade of runners stretching out nearly a mile. I then remembered the Boilermaker training program was in progress. The group came in all shapes and sizes; perhaps 60 to 75 in all. There were some running in small clusters laughing or talking, some suffering in silence. Fast runners, slow runners; even walking runners (I’m assuming they started the course running). Yet all had on thing in common; to cross that Boilermaker finish line for the first time on July 12th.
It’s my belief that the running of the Boilermaker is merely the culmination of months of ‘sweat equity’ to make it happen. The discipline and determination a runner puts in to finish 9.3 miles and hopefully sets the stage for a lifetime of exercise starts here. These are the tough runs when you are building up your endurance; no cheering crowds or warm temperatures. This was a typical Utica winter day with a temperature of 10 degrees with a slight biting wind.
I want to give a big shout out to Linda Turner, Mike Kessler and the loyal volunteers who have championed this training program over the years. Thanks to their efforts, hundreds of first-time Boilermaker runners have been created.
If you have the chance on a Saturday morning to see this group running by, give them a honk and a wave; to them this is pretty important stuff!